Thursday, July 16, 2015

A Legend of Ancient Peru—The Four Brothers Part II

Continuing with
the legend from the previous post in which the legend itself was covered. Below
is the explanation of that last post, and the connection to the Book of Mormon
and the events listed there with Lehi arriving in the Land of Promise and how
his four adult sons interacted and fit so closely into this legend.1) Four
sons left Jerusalem -- Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi (1 Nephi 2:5);

2) Sent by
their father -- Nephi and his brothers were twice sent by their father Lehi
back to Jerusalem, first for the brass plates (1 Nephi 3:4, 9) and later for
Ishmael's family (1 Nephi 7:1-2);3) Propagators
of the truth and militant soldiers of a new and exclusive gospel --
obviously, Nephi, Sam, Jacob, and Joseph were teachers of the truth and
expounded on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Nephi, himself, called Jacob and Joseph to be teachers and priests to
his people (2 Nephi 5:26);4) Each
brother was married to a sister-wife -- Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi each
married a daughter of Ishmael (1 Nephi 16:7), thus each wife was a sister to
each other wife. In addition, these wives were also descendants of Joseph as
were Nephi and his brothers (1 Nephi 5:14; 6:2; 2 Nephi 3:4), thus making the
daughters of Ishmael and the sons of Lehi cousins, or brothers and sisters in
the tribe of Joseph;5) A
golden staff of peculiar properties which informed them when their mission was
at an end by remaining fixed on an unknown promised land toward which they were
journeying -- this part of the legend should be broken down into the
following parts: a. Golden
staff -- the Liahona was a ball of fine brass of curious workmanship (1
Nephi 16:10); b. Of
peculiar properties -- the Liahona had spindles that pointed in directions
(1 Nephi 16:10), with words that appeared written on it (1 Nephi 16:27), and
worked by the faith of those who used it (1 Nephi 16:28; 18:21). The instrument also stopped working in the
face of wickedness (1 Nephi 18:12);

c. Fixed on an unknown promised land -- the Liahona was used by Nephi to guide him
across the seas to the Land of Promise (1 Nephi 18:21-23). About 500 years later, Helaman, while
instructing his sons, reminded them that the Liahona pointed the Lehi colony on
a straight course to the promised land (Alma 37:44); d. It
showed them when their journey was complete -- the 8 to 10 year journey
through the wilderness and across the many waters culminated when the Lehi
Colony finally reached the Land of Promise (1 Nephi 18:23).6) The
oldest and most troublesome of the brothers -- time and again the oldest
son, Laman, caused problems from the moment they left Jerusalem (1 Nephi 2:12)
to the time they reached the Land of Promise (1 Nephi 18:11, 18; 2 Nephi
5:2-4), many times threatening to kill Nephi (1 Nephi 7:16; 17:48) and return
to Jerusalem (1 Nephi 7:7);7) Who had
prevailed upon to return to the place of origin -- Lehi asked Laman, as his
first-born son, to return to Jerusalem
(1 Nephi 3:2-5) which was their place of origin for Lehi had spent all
his days at Jerusalem (1 Nephi 1:4);

8) To
retrieve some golden vessels -- the brothers were sent back to retrieve the
brass plates (1 Nephi 3:3) and in so doing, they obtained the gold and silver
and all manner of riches from their father's house (1 Nephi 3:16, 22) to use in
purchasing the brass plates from Laban (1 Nephi 3:24);9) When
one of the brothers was near death, he designated his grown son as his heir and
successor -- Nephi, upon getting old and ready to die, appointed his
successor (Jacob 1:9), as prophet (Jacob 1:1-4), and evidently his son to be king, who the people decided to call Second Nephi (Jacob 1:11). This parallel is found among the Jaredites,
for when the youngest son of Jared was appointed king (Ether 6:27), the record
and religious leadership was maintained by the Brother of Jared and his
descendants (Ether 1:34; 2:14; 3:25; 4:1).
In fact, the religious record of the Nephites was maintained down
through Amaleki (Omni 1:12), a descendant of Jacob, who died without a son, and
his brother had gone with Zeniff back to the Land of Nephi (Omni 1:25, 30), so
he gave the records to king Benjamin, the political ruler and king (Omni 1:23;
Words of Mormon 1:17). About a thousand
years later, through this line we come to Mormon who called himself a pure
descendant of Lehi (3 Nephi 5:20) through Nephi (Mormon 1:5). Thus it seems reasonable that Nephi's
political leader, the man who became known as Second Nephi, was one of Nephi's
own sons;10) These
people considered themselves indigenous to the land -- The Nephites
separated themselves from the Lamanites and settled a new land which they
called the Land of Nephi (2 Nephi 5:7-8).
There they spent about 350 years until Mosiah was told to flee and take
those Nephites who would go with him to a land further northward (Omni 1:12). For 350 years, the Nephites would have
considered themselves indigenous to the Land of Nephi—it had been their only
home in the land of promise;11) Considered
themselves unwarlike -- The Nephites were taught never to give an offense
or raise the sword except it were against an enemy in the saving of their lives
(Alma 48:14). They were taught to fight
only to defend themselves (Alma 43:9-13) and maintained throughout their
periods of righteousness a benevolent attitude toward their enemy, the
Lamanites, often freeing their captured armies when the Lamanite soldiers
covenanted to go in peace and make war no more (Alma 62:16-17);

12) Chose
leaders who were war-leaders -- Nephi was chosen by his people to be their
king, but he chose the title of ruler (2 Nephi 5:18-19). He defended them and led them in many wars
(Jacob 1:10), and those who followed him as leaders (Jacob 1:11) were mighty in
battle (Omni 1:3, 10; Words of Mormon 1:13).
When the Large Plates of Nephi are finally obtained, we will have a more
complete record of the kings and the wars of the people and will learn the role
played by Second Nephi, Third Nephi, etc., who obviously served as
"war-leaders";13) One
brother moved further away -- Nephi was told by the Spirit to escape his
brothers (2 Nephi 5:5-7) which he did, and settled in the land they called
Nephi;14) The
leading brother of the four was elected to be the war-leader and his great
successes earned him the coveted title of capac--chieftan which was an
honorific title of true eminence -- Nephi was loved by his people (Jacob
1:10), was elected by them to be their king (2 Nephi 5:18), defended them
against the Lamanites (2 Nephi 5:34, Jacob 1:10); and achieved high eminence
among them (Jacob 1:11)15) Appointed
one of his brothers to be the "field guardian" of the community
-- Nephi appointed his two younger brothers, Jacob and Joseph, as teachers and
priests over the land (2 Nephi 5:26) and later Jacob became the prophet (Jacob
1:1, 4);(See the next
post, “A Legend of Ancient Peru—The Four Brothers Part III,” for an explanation
of the above legend as well as the connection to the Book of Mormon and the
events listed there with Lehi arriving in the Land of Promise and how his four
adult sons interacted and fit so closely into this legend)